14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently announced a new event in San Francisco that’s also believed to witness the unveiling of Office for iPad, the eagerly-anticipated version of the productivity suite developed for Apple tablets.
According to a report by The Verge, the March 27 event, which will mark the public appearance of Satya Nadella as Microsoft CEO, will focus on Redmond’s “mobile first, cloud first” strategy, but could also include some new product unveilings, such as Office for iPad.
Citing people familiar with Microsoft’s plans, the same source is adding that Office for iPad will be very similar to Office for iPhone launched in June 2013. An Office 365 subscription will also be required for all iPad owners who want to use Office on their tablets.
It appears that Office for iPad will support basic editing features, so you will be allowed to create and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.
The interface will be very similar to what you can see right now on the iPhone, but no other specifics have been provided.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft has recently unveiled Office 365 Personal, a new version of its Office 365 cloud-based productivity suite that’s addressed to individuals who want to use this service on tablets or desktop computers.
Office 365 Personal will be available for $6.99 (€5.05) per month or $69.99 (€50.5) per year and comes with support for one PC or Mac and one tablet to be connected at the same time. Of course, this pretty much makes sense for iPad owners, who’ll thus be allowed to work on their tablets with the help of a very affordable subscription.
“We recognize that there are households of all shapes and sizes and we’re committed to delivering the right Office for everyone – whether that be one person or an entire household,” Microsoft said in a statement last week.
Microsoft yesterday unveiled OneNote for Mac, a new version of its note-taking app that’s now available free of charge for all those using Apple computers. Microsoft is thus struggling to make Office and the built-in productivity tools much more appealing to non-Windows users, as the company is planning to monetize its software better by launching it on mobile platforms.
A touch-optimized version of Office specifically aimed at Windows 8 would also be released sometime this year, and so is an Android port that would allow users to create and edit documents on the go straight from their mobiles phones and tablets.